ISLAMABAD: Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has for the first time explicitly dismissed a report from a corruption investigation that raised questions about the source of his family’s wealth, rejecting it as slander.
Sharif, 67, serving his third term as prime minister, faces opposition calls to step down but he was defiant in his condemnation of the report that alleges his family’s income from business was not large enough to explain its wealth.
A Joint Investigation Team (JIT), set up by the Supreme Court to investigate corruption allegations that surfaced following the Panama Papers leak, also accused his children, including heir apparent Maryam Sharif, of signing falsified documents about ownership of off-shore companies.
“The JIT report about our family businesses is the sum of hypotheses, accusations and slander,” Sharif said in a statement after meeting his Cabinet.
The investigation team, which included officials from a military intelligence agency, presented its report to the Supreme Court on Monday.
Copies of it were then leaked to the media, prompting a chorus of demands from political parties that he resign from office.
Sharif’s term expires in June 2018 and elections are expected two months later. If he were forced to step down, his ruling PML-N party could appoint a new leader as prime minister until the polls.
Nevertheless, worries generated by the 254-page report has sent stocks tumbling amid fears of chaos after several years of relative stability and accelerating economic growth.
The economy expanded by 5.3 percent last fiscal year — its fastest in a decade. Big infrastructure investment by China has boosted growth.
After years of electricity shortages and cuts, power outages have also been reduced but not eradicated.
“Projects amounting to billions are being installed here but no wrongdoing has been proven,” Sharif said.
Sharif said the economic progress made since his election in 2013 showed the government was on the right track and any disruption would only hurt progress.
“We will not let darkness once again prevail in our towns and factories,” he said.
Sharif, the son of an industrialist, will have his fate decided by the Supreme Court, which could disqualify him or order a trial.
Sharif was originally nurtured by the military as a civilian politician who would protect their interests, and he served as prime minister twice in the 1990s.
But he later fell out with an army chief and was ousted in a 1999 coup leading to a decade of exile.
“Our family has gained nothing from the politics, in fact it has lost a lot,” Sharif said.
Pakistan PM rejects graft report as ‘slander’
Pakistan PM rejects graft report as ‘slander’
US hotels seek World Cup boost after tourism dip under Trump
- At the US hotels that Meade Atkeson manages, a drop in tourism weighs heavily on business — but hoteliers like him hope that World Cup enthusiasm will soon eclipse wariness over President
WASHINGTON: At the US hotels that Meade Atkeson manages, a drop in tourism weighs heavily on business — but hoteliers like him hope that World Cup enthusiasm will soon eclipse wariness over President Donald Trump’s policies.
The US hospitality sector has been reeling from a tourism slump in the world’s biggest economy, which became the only major destination to see a drop in foreign visitors last year.
“Just financially, it’s difficult when international travel is down,” Atkeson told AFP, noting that such visitors tend to stay longer and spend more.
Foreign travelers account for nearly a quarter of business at the three hotels under Sonesta group that he manages — two in Washington and a third in Miami Beach.
Yet, in the first eleven months of 2025, US official data showed that inbound travel dropped by 5.4 percent.
Canadians were noticeably absent, with travel plunging by 21.7 percent from 2024, translating to about four million fewer people. The decline was nearly seven percent for French visitors.
Industry professionals see this as a consequence of Trump’s policies, even if they may not openly say so.
Visitors have chafed at the Republican president’s sweeping tariffs on foreign goods, broadsides against other countries, tightening immigration rules and portrayal of certain Democrat-led cities as ridden with crime.
Canadians “were asked to be the 51st state, right?” Atkeson said.
“If you talk to Canadians, many of them have chosen not to travel out of conscience” or on principle, he added.
Brazilian tourists meanwhile “can go anywhere they want,” he said. “And so they may have gone to Europe, they may have gone to the islands.”
‘Fear’
Thousands of kilometers away, the major resort city of Las Vegas in Nevada — boasting 150,000 hotel rooms — has also had a bad year.
Elsa Rodan, a chambermaid at the Bellagio resort and casino, says her establishment is “blessed” compared with others.
But even so, it has had to lower prices to attract guests, added Rodan, a representative of the Unite Here union who spoke at a Washington press conference.
Unite Here President Gwen Mills urges for a renewed effort to lobby the Trump administration over policies and rhetoric that she believes are jeopardizing the sector employing more than two million people.
According to her, hoteliers are not pushing the government enough.
Employers express “fear, the fear of picking your head up,” she said.
Hopefully ‘better’
Fewer visitors and overnight stays, alongside a drop in revenue, have triggered a $6.7 billion shortfall for Nevada hotels in 2025, according to the American Hotel and Lodging Association (AHLA).
But the organization hopes that 2026 will be a turning point — it is counting on the World Cup, from June 11 to July 19, to attract visitors.
Eleven US cities will be hosting matches.
“It’s being equated to having nearly 80 Super Bowls in just over a month,” AHLA spokesman Ralph Posner told AFP.
“The economic lift won’t be limited to host cities,” he added. “Destinations across the country are hoping to benefit as international visitors extend their trips and travel between markets.”
Las Vegas, for example, hopes to draw fans who might stop there before or after a game in Los Angeles or Kansas City.
Organizers say that besides the seven million spectators in stadiums, the World Cup is set to attract 20-30 million tourists.
The whole event, they believe, can generate $30 billion for the US economy.
“I hope that things will look better,” Atkeson said.
His Miami hotel is under renovations and cannot host much World Cup-related activity.
But his Washington establishments are highlighting their proximity to Philadelphia, where several matches will be held.
Another complication is war in the Middle East following US-Israeli strikes on Iran, which could snarl travel.
“It’s a little too soon to tell how we’re going to do with that, but we’ll see,” he said.
